[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 41 (Friday, March 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E434]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2202, IMMIGRATION IN THE NATIONAL 
                          INTEREST ACT OF 1995

                                 ______


                               speech of

                         HON. RONALD D. COLEMAN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 21, 1996

  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of the 
Chabot-Conyers amendment to the Immigration Act of 1995 (H.R. 2202). 
What we have before us today is a bill that is discriminatory and ill-
conceived.
  This bill proposes to create a national data system that must be used 
by all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of 
every person hired in the United States. The bill would establish a 
massive and costly data retrieval system to access information from 
existing Government databases at the Social Security Administration and 
the INS.
  This 1-800-BIG BROTHER system would compel employers to have each new 
hire approved by the Federal Government. This is a costly, intrusive, 
and ineffective measure.
  To begin with, the system would rely on highly flawed Government 
data. The INS database slated for use in this system has missing or 
incorrect information 28 percent of the time, while the Social Security 
Administration has faulty data 17 percent of the time. In previous 
pilot projects run by the INS and SSA, over 50 percent of the people 
who the systems could not verify were, in fact, legally authorized 
workers.
  With tens of millions of Americans entering the job market each year, 
even an almost impossible low 1 percent error rate could still cause 
thousands of Americans to be wrongly denied work each year. 
Consequently, millions of American workers are at risk because of 
seriously flawed Government data.
  I am proud to represent El Paso, whose 650,000 citizens, residents, 
and children of immigrants have successfully integrated bilingualism 
and biculturalism into their education system, health care facilities, 
and economy. El Paso's population is 70 percent Hispanic. If passed, 
this bill will have a devastating effect on my district by entering Big 
Brother into their daily lives.
  Imagine how this Big Brother system would affect the citizens of El 
Paso. Hundreds of thousands of El Pasoans could be at the mercy of this 
faulty system.
  People whose appearance, accent or family background make them seem 
foreign will be screened out of jobs as employers attempt to avoid the 
inevitable problems which the verification process will cause. The 
verification system will also be easily susceptible to abuse by 
merchants and business people who use the worker registry as a powerful 
tool to harass, and privately check up on whoever they choose, for 
other purposes.
  In wake of the Proposition 187, merchants in California began 
requesting immigration documents from Latino and Asian customers in 
restaurants and banks.
  I believe the recent xenophobic rhetoric being used by some in the 
Republican Party is a thinly veiled attempt to blame national problems 
on newcomers or those who are of a different ethnicity than the 
majority. These efforts contribute to an atmosphere of hostility. I 
find it dangerous and counterproductive to start a process which would 
lead only to spiraling harassment and discrimination in the workplace.
  Further, the system is imperfect and has massive loopholes. False 
documents with accurate numbers will enable undocumented workers to 
avoid detection and employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers 
under the table will continue to do so despite the system.

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